Labour MEPs have chosen their new leader in the European Parliament following the resignation of the previous head of the group last month.

West Midlands MEP Simon Murphy beat Stephen Hughes by 18 votes to 10 in the ballot on Wednesday.

Mr Murphy, 37, is a former university lecturer and a former Labour chief whip in the European Parliament.

He replaces Alan Donnelly, who resigned last month citing the amount of travelling by MEPs between the Parliament's two headquarters in Brussels and Strasbourg as his reason for standing down.

'Travelling circus'

MEPs currently meet in Strasbourg for a week every month. Their full-time offices and staff are based at the Parliament in Brussels.

Speaking after his election, Mr Murphy said that he was also critical of the Parliament's two bases.

"The continual shuttling of the European Parliament between Strasbourg and Brussels has to stop," he said.

"This travelling circus not only wastes millions of pounds of taxpayers' money, but also undermines the important work Labour MEPs do protecting British interests in the European Union."

Mr Murphy said that the current system was "an intolerable abuse that has no place in a modern, reformed European Union".

Mr Donnelly led the Labour MEPs for two years before resigning last month, the day after he and other British MEPs walked out of the opening of the new Strasbourg building over the French ban on British beef.